The present invention relates to an electromagnetic device and an electromagnetic relay equipped with the electromagnetic device.
JP 2010-010058 (hereinafter, referred to as Patent Literature 1) discloses an electromagnetic device including a coil which generates a magnetic flux when a current is applied, a fixed member through which the generated magnetic flux flows, and a movable member which reciprocates to separate from the fixed member by a predetermined gap when the current applied to the coil is stopped and move to the fixed member by an attractive force when the current is applied to the coil.
The movable member in Patent Literature 1 can be driven with smaller power consumption by use of a magnetic force of a permanent magnet provided in the movable member.
In the electromagnetic device disclosed in Patent Literature 1, the amount of the magnetic flux generated by the permanent magnet and flowing through the opposed surface (the magnetic pole face) of the movable member opposed to the fixed member tends to decrease, since the permanent magnet is located in the middle of the movable member in the reciprocation direction. Namely, the magnetic flux generated by the permanent magnet contributing to improving the attractive force acting on the movable member for moving toward the fixed member is reduced.
Since the conventional technology cannot allow the magnetic flux generated by the permanent magnet to efficiently flow through the magnetic pole face, there remains a need for improvement in the attractive force acting on the movable member for moving toward the fixed member.